Saturday

Today was one of those mishmash days, a little of this, a little of that.

Though I definitely woke too early (it's never comforting to wake and notice a six in the leading spot on the alarm clock on a day that doesn't involve an early flight), I zoned until nine, then ran to Tesco for a magazine - and another pair of free flip-flops - to break my £10 note for laundry money. (Sad, no?) Leigh was right, as it turns out - Dryer #1 , which for some reason runs in 40-minute cycles, really will dry an entire load, even denim, and so I was able to leave my spiffy clothes rack down for the first week all year.

After that, there was time for lunch (still going on the pot pie...it's looking like Monday), followed by a two-hour, 4.6-mile walk into the New Town and environs. It was only lightly misting when I left the building, but just as I got to the Leith crossing, two miles from home, the real rain started. My North Face jacket, I fear, gets more wear than just about anything else in my wardrobe (or out of my wardrobe, as the case may be; I hang it on the wardrobe doorknob to dry).

Following my exercise, there was time to watch four episodes of Red Dwarf, read my new copy of Glamour, then take an hour's nap before dinner. After dinner, slightly bored, I headed to Blockbuster for a DVD, eventually settling on Tideland. I knew nothing about it, but it seemed more intelligent than my usual Blockbuster selections, like Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Turns out that it's disturbing on several levels, with all of the Gothic fantasy of Big Fish and none of the warm fuzziness, and was widely praised and panned on its release. One critic called it a blending of Psycho and Alice in Wonderland. Can't go wrong there, I suppose, but I kept glancing on the timer bar, wondering how much more of that twisted story I could take and when someone was going to rescue that little girl and her Barbie heads. Worth a look, but it's not going down on my list of must-buy movies.

And now ResNet is down. Again. Twenty-four hours before they're supposed to take it down for a couple of hours to fix it. Have I mentioned lately how much I despise our tech team?